


honeyed-fruit blend

by eternalmagic



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, mostly pre-slash but Definitely not platonic, no beta we die like Glenn, silver snow route canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23069665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternalmagic/pseuds/eternalmagic
Summary: Byleth is a miracle, if Yuri could call him that. Here he is, five years after vanishing off the face of the earth, leading the Resistance. And later, wandering around Garreg Mach’s underground less than a month after seemingly coming back from the dead.“I was hoping you might want to get tea?” It’s code for wanting to duck out of having a meeting with Seteth for the fifth time this week, Yuri is sure.And he smiles, because why wouldn’t he go play hooky for an hour or two when asked so nicely?[ silver snow route. byleth and yuri share a pot of tea. ]
Relationships: Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc & My Unit | Byleth, Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 6
Kudos: 141





	honeyed-fruit blend

**Author's Note:**

> so i really enjoy yuri and his supports with byleth are great??? all of his supports, really, as well as the supports for the other wolves. anyway, i'm pausing in my silver snow run to write this, based on the fact that the last time slot i had before the first mission post timeskip i ran and had tea with yuri. he also was the first to mug me post timeskip for his a support. i should prolly, uh, _get back to playing it_ but i want to not have to play it. s supporting yuri is the only reason i will be able to finish silver snow. also i dont want to have to keep support grinding.
> 
> this just takes place during that teatime in my head, and also has one of my favorite thoughts about byleth holding onto the lost items for too long. so. idk, this is unbeta'd and i haven't published anythign in a while and this beat me up until i wrote it and dropped it here. i hope you guys like it ;u;

Less than a month ago, the grounds of Garreg Mach had mostly been deserted. The odd bandit still picked through what remained of the once great monastery every once in a while, hoping to get rich quick. Any that found their way down to Abyss typically didn’t stay for long, not when the Savage Mockingbird appeared to give them a--ah, how to put it-- _friendly_ welcome.

But then, almost as if nothing had changed, everyone was back, and the place was teeming with people again. There was a steady stream of footsteps above as people came and went. Merchants set up shop outside the entry hall. Wyverns and pegasi filled the sky.

Of course, nothing could really ever be the same again with the war on. They’re all five years older, battle-hardened and no longer the wide-eyed kids they used to be. Technically, Yuri could never have been called wide-eyed or innocent, but he figures they’ve all had to grow up pretty fast in the wake of Edelgard’s war--somehow even more than in his first twenty years of life.

In the midst of everything still so uncertain for the former students of the Officer’s Academy, though, is their professor; standing tall in the face of the Empire, and what remains of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance. He looks much the same as he did the day he vanished from their lives and left them to deal with the war--eyes set on the horizon, expression an impossibly blank mask. Still the Ashen Demon through and through, even if he’d abandoned his mercenary life.

Yuri had taken out his journal the day he, Hapi, Balthus and Constance learned that the professor was alive and carefully crossed out the name _Byleth Eisner_ where he’d written it four years ago. Back then, Yuri had hoped that maybe he was wrong, and had held out on writing that name until it was clear that their professor was dead, but apparently even then he hadn’t been patient enough--or, a miracle had happened and brought Byleth back.

Given the whole _cast into a void of darkness_ thing and coming out with powers from the goddess, it probably **was** a miracle. (Imagine that, two miracles spent on a single person. Yuri would complain about fairness, but Byleth is adorable when not on the battlefield so he’ll let it slide.)

But now with their general back in play, there’s things that need doing. They’ve an army to build up after all, and a monastery to defend.

Two days ago, word of approaching Imperial troops reached their ears. The entire monastery is in a frenzy as soldiers attempt to prepare for the attack. Abyss is always easy to secure, and has been since the first signs of the war. Yuri thankfully doesn’t have much to do on that front, but he still offers a hand upstairs.

The way that Byleth is assaulted with questions and demands every two minutes hasn’t escaped Yuri’s notice, either. Now more than ever the general of the Resistance army is being fed to the wolves that make up his army and what remains of the Church’s devout, forced to shoulder all their expectations with his customary smile that doesn’t meet his eyes. Byleth handles it with a grace that Yuri finds admirable, but he knows it’s got be wearing the man down.

So, he isn’t very surprised when Byleth comes looking for him in Abyss, almost nervously fiddling with his hands.

“Yuri--” Byleth begins, tone quiet. Yuri raises an eyebrow, watching as the professor’s expression softens just the slightest bit. “--I’m sorry to bother, and maybe this isn’t the best time, but...would you like to have some tea with me?”

It’s code, Yuri knows. He’d seen Byleth’s new right hand--previously _Lady Rhea’s_ right hand--calling Byleth’s name, wanting to speak with him for the fifth time in a week. Not to mention how many people bombard the man as he's just going about his daily routine.

Before the war, before Edelgard had shown her cards, Byleth had come to Yuri and had tea a few times. He’d come wander Abyss when seemingly the world above was too much to handle, finding a quiet space to breathe in the shabby little library or by the pagan alter. Yuri had kept him company, and he’d have to have been blind not to see the way the professor’s shoulders lowered, relaxed in a way they weren’t everywhere else. Now, though, the tension fades only slightly and the quiet moments in Abyss aren't as much of a relief as they had once been.

It’s no small wonder that Byleth wants a break.

Yuri hesitates a moment--perhaps it's cruel to do so, by the glimmer of uncertainty in Byleth’s eye--before smirking a little.

“You know, that sounds lovely, my friend.”

The relief evident in Byleth’s still mostly blank expression makes it more than worth it.

The professor blinks once, twice, before patting himself down. “O-oh.” A slight flush crosses the other man’s face. “I’m sorry, Yuri, but I left all of my tea leaves in my quarters.”

“Well, now.” Yuri winks, clearly teasing. “I wouldn’t be opposed to a little privacy anyways.”

“Um--right.” Byleth studies him, trying to derive some kind of motive. Yuri has seen him do this plenty of times with all manner of people--attempting to understand tone, body language. Byleth doesn’t seem to sense any innuendo in Yuri’s words this time, nodding and leading the way back to the student dorms.

The walk doesn’t take long even when they stop to pilfer a tray of slightly stale cookies and a pot of hot water, and Yuri makes sure to close the door to Byleth’s room behind him. He watches the professor rummage through his things and decides to at least pull out that table for them to sit at.

The room is a bit of a mess, which is funny considering how organized Byleth usually is. A pile of books sits on the desk amidst wadded up parchment, and dust still covers more than one shelf in the room. The bed has been made in a rush, the sheets wrinkled instead of laying flat across the mattress. The set of gilded and embroidered armor that Lady Rhea had presented to Byleth--the set of armor that Seteth is insisting Byleth wear when he leads the Resistance into battle--is folded haphazardly and in a corner of the room. The Sword of the Creator lays next to it, strange as ever without its Crest Stone.

“Oh--I have something of yours, by the way.” Byleth says, drawing Yuri out of his scrutiny of the room. When Yuri turns he finds that there’s a delicate brush being held out to him.

He remembers suddenly the bashful look in the professor’s eyes during the first war council meeting, just days after what would have been the Millenium festival. A quiet admission that his room had gone mostly untouched in the past five years, including all the bits and bobs students had lost over the course of their year at the Academy--which he would need to sort through once more to remember their original owners, but would be sure to return as quickly as he could.

The makeup brush being offered is a bristly old thing, one of the first he’d gotten when he had still lived in Enbarr. It had never really been his favorite to use, but it had been rough having to make do with an even worse brush once this one had vanished. That concern seems trivial against the problems facing him now.

Yuri smiles anyway and takes the brush gently. “I’d thought this was gone, you know. Vanished into thin air.” His tone is light, sort of teasing in the way he uses so much. Usually it makes the professor smile, if only a little.

“Maybe it would have been, if I hadn’t--” Byleth stops abruptly mid-sentence, face coloring the slightest shade of pink. “Well. If my room had remained untouched.”

“Mmm.” There it is again, the reminder of the time that’s passed. Yuri sets the tray of cookies on the table. “Eventually someone would have rummaged through here. But I doubt anyone would want that pile of junk.”

Byleth hums in agreement, mind clearly elsewhere. He’s holding a white glove in his hand, brows knitted together. After a moment, he sets it to the side with what looks to be a folded razor.

“Junk indeed.” Byleth murmurs, his tone making it clear he doesn’t think it’s junk.

Yuri watches him, wonders just who might have owned the glove, the razor. The answer seems startlingly obvious after only a moment of thought--as if they could belong to anyone else but their house leader and her aide.

But it’s best not to dwell on what could have been.

Yuri stands, leans over enough to catch Byleth’s hand. “The water’s cooling, friend.” He says, gently, coaxing the professor to the table.

“Right. I’m sorry.”

Byleth sets out the tea leaves, but Yuri takes over from there. Soon two cups are steeping, steam curling gently up into the air. Byleth’s hands curl around the cup in front of him, sapping the warmth from it.

The quiet moment lasts a little too long for Yuri’s liking. His eyes narrow, watching the professor’s face.

“A gold for your thoughts?” He asks after a moment, gauging the reaction he gets.

Byleth’s brows draw together. “...I have too many things on my mind. I don’t really want to trouble you.”

Yuri purses his lips. “Really? You go around taking everyone else’s problems off their hands, but then refuse to let someone help you out for once? Doesn’t seem fair.”

“It’s not that. I just...don’t know.”

“You don’t know.”

Byleth colors in that adorable way he always does when talking with Yuri. “I don’t talk about things going on with me as much anymore. I...used to have someone I confided in. And now I don’t.”

Jeralt, Yuri assumes. They didn’t look so close when Yuri would watch them together, but maybe--for once--he’d misjudged a relationship.

“Well, I suppose that means you just need someone new to confide in.” Yuri finally responds.

He ignores the look Byleth gives him as the professor says, “And are you volunteering yourself for that job?”

“Maybe.” Yuri smirks, just a little. “I’d be happy to be here, if that’s what you want.”

Byleth smiles faintly again, eyes drifting back to the teacup in his hands. “Maybe, then.”

Yuri doesn’t press further, at least not right away. The expression on Byleth’s face indicates he wants to say something. Thankfully, Yuri is a patient man.

“It’s just…” Byleth starts, once they’re on their second cups, “I wonder a lot about what I’ve missed. And what...could have been, I guess.”

It’s not hard to puzzle out what Byleth means. “About Edelgard.”

“Could I have gotten through to her, do you think? Could I have offered my hand, and made her change her mind?”

“This is just my opinion, but I’m not sure you could turn her from her path.” Yuri laces his fingers together under his chin. “From what I remember, she was too prepared to have built an army and a following of that size overnight. It was too late to stop her. Either you would have joined her, or you wouldn’t have.”

Byleth hums, expression falling a little. “I know--but part of me still wonders if I had tried harder, then maybe…”

“What ifs are a dangerous path to wander down, friend.” Yuri says, voice quiet. “What’s done is done. You can’t change the past.”

“It’s hard not to think about.” Byleth huffs to himself. “It’s something else to focus on instead of…” He trails off--but Byleth is always easy to read. Even easier at this, as his eyes turn to the armor he’d been gifted by the archbishop so long ago.

Yuri decides to take a lighter approach to this topic. “Not all it’s cracked up to be?”

“Being a professor I could handle. But this? It feels like too much.” He frowns. “It’s been five years for everyone else, but for me, it’s only been a few weeks since we were first fighting Edelgard off. I’m not sure I like it.”

“You’re being bombarded every second of the day, but if it means anything to you, I think you’ve done a bang up job of leading us so far.” Yuri swirls the tea in his cup. “Just don’t give me reason to write your name down again.”

Byleth’s eyes narrow instantly. “I thought you said I wasn’t _one of your people_.”

Yuri flushes--Byleth is apparently only _selectively_ oblivious about things said around him. He’d intended to never say anything about the first entry for Byleth in his notebook, but here he was. “I believe I also said not to go dying on me.” His own eyes narrow as well. “And you’re surprised about the wrong part of what I said anyway.”

“Well, I’ve already died once. You weren’t exactly wrong writing my name down.”

Yuri had been in the middle of finishing his tea, and he barely manages to not spit it across the table. After he regains his composure, he stares at the professor. “Excuse me?”

“But I have to say that you thinking of me as one of yours even while I was gone is...comforting.” Byleth graces Yuri with one of his wider, more open smiles and completely bypasses the question. (What was that about being selectively oblivious?) “Maybe you’re right, in needing someone to confide in. If you don’t mind me relying on you that way, anyway.”

Yuri thinks he’s just fallen for one of his own tricks. But he can’t help but smile, and murmur, “Gladly.”

**Author's Note:**

> the armor mentioned is for the enlightened one class, and the glove and razor are lost items for edelgard and hubert (which i did return to them on this run so i wouldn't have to see them in my inventory and be sad i hadn't done crimson flower instead).
> 
> you can find me on tumblr at x-eternalmagic or howdomaddie, and on twitter as @howdomaddie! if you enjoyed this, please leave me a comment and tell me what you liked most! i promise it will make my day.


End file.
